Consume
by Shakespeare's Girl
Summary: Final in a series. Lex tries to win Clark back. Darkish fic. Sequel to Fire and Fury in case I didn't make that clear before. Alternate Long Ending added.
1. Chapter 1

**Consume**

**By Shakespeare's Girl**

_Where two raging fires do meet, they do consume the thing that fuels their fury.--Taming of the Shrew_

Lex Luthor stared out at the Metropolis skyline from his helicopter. He smiled slightly, his eyes not seeing the things before him, but something far off on the horizons of memory.

With a quick shake, he brought himself back to the present and smiled even wider. Today was the day. He looked to his side and smirked at Chloe Sullivan.

"Lex, you look positively evil when you smirk like that," Chloe laughed. "Remember, the goal is to win him back, not scare him off!"

"Don't worry, Chloe," Lex assured her. "I know what to do."

"I know _that,_" Chloe rolled her eyes at him. "I just don't know if you'll actually _do_ it though, when faced with that gorgeous hunk of muscular farm boy."

Lex smirked again. Chloe snorted at him. He sighed. She never had been intimidated by the Luthor smirk.

As the helicopter landed, Lex stretched his neck and Chloe winced at the sound of popping bones. Lex took a deep breath and stepped out. Chloe followed, lugging a large black case behind her. She set it on the ground and flipped it open. A huge speaker system was set up inside. Lex grabbed a microphone an spoke into it. "Hello? Hello?" He held it away from his mouth to address Chloe. "Are we set?"

"Yes Lex, go ahead."

"This is an announcement for the man I love," Lex spoke into the microphone, the speakers broadcasting his announcement throughout Metropolis. "You left me because I yelled at you. I said evil things and I refused to listen. I hurt you so you wouldn't hurt me. But then you left, something I hadn't counted on. And I realized very quickly that I truly cannot live without you. So I am going to apologize for the things I said. I am apologizing and I am saying goodbye. I love you, I miss you, and I can't go on without you. So if I can't have you, I would rather die. And in exactly fifteen minutes, I am going to jump off the top of the LutherCorp tower and kill myself. Because life's just not worth it without you."

He tossed the microphone to Chloe, and she gave him a look. "Lex, don't you make me write your obituary. Don't you dare."

"I'll be fine, Chloe." Lex wondered if it was a lie. He shook off his worry and walked to the edge of the building. Chloe packed away the sound system and loaded it into the helicopter.

"I _will_ see you in Smallville tomorrow, or I _will_ sue you for emotional damages," Chloe shouted at him as she took off in the helicopter. Lex smiled as she glared at him through the window.

He turned back to the drop in front of him

_Clark had better come. Because if he doesn't, I might actually jump. _Lex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He raised a leg and stepped onto the railing running around the building's edge. _This is insane._

Lex glanced at his watch. Five minutes. The second hand ticked away, shaving the time down, second by second. Lex searched the sky, but saw nothing of his hero. He looked back at his watch. Three minutes. Frantically, Lex pulled himself up to balance on the thin railing. Two minutes. He looked downward and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Fear and excitement blended in his chest, creating an adrenaline high that pulled him toward the empty space below him.

It was dizzying to be up so high without a safety net. It was exhilarating. It was petrifying.

He looked at his watch one last time. _Time's up_.

Lex spread his arms, as if he was flying, and closed his eyes, leaning out into space. _Should I do it? _Lex wondered. _Yes,_ something inside him answered. _Do it, or always wonder what it would have been like. Wonder about the rush of the wind, the fear, the excitement, the pain, and the ecstasy._

Lex let himself lean forward again, and suddenly felt his feet slipping away from the railing. Lex felt his breath rush out from his lungs, but didn't open his eyes. Seeing it would make it real. And he wasn't sure he wanted it to be real.

Lex smiled as the air rushed past him. _This must be what it feels like to fly. Silent and frightening, and free._

And then Lex opened his eyes. The pavement was closer that he'd expected and farther than he'd thought. He wondered if the impact would hurt, if crashing to the ground in a million pieces would kill him instantaneously, or whether he would be cognizant for any amount of time.

He shut his eyes again, afraid he'd start screaming in terror and delight if he kept them open any longer. He didn't want to know how fast the pavement was racing up at him, how large the gathering crowd was. He let himself fall, and hoped beyond every hope or wish he'd ever made that Clark would be there to catch him, to save him, like he'd saved so many others from this same type of thing.

"CLARK!" Lex finally screamed. "CLARK! I LOVE YOU!"

He knew he must be getting close to impact--surely one couldn't fall for this long without hitting something?

And then suddenly something was grabbing him, wrapping around him, and Lex thought _Maybe this is what it's like to die._

But then he realized that he was wrapped in the strongest and best arms in the world, and that the hard thing he was pressed against was Clark Kent's chest, and that he'd come, finally.

They hung in the air, suspended, and Lex opened his eyes and looked into Clark's handsome face, his beautiful face, the face he loved so much that it physically hurt to look at him sometimes. He smiled at Clark, a smile of wonder and apology and surprise and fear.

But Lex wasn't falling anymore, and that helped everything be all right.


	2. Chapter 2

"ALEXANDER LUTHOR!" Clark bellowed, loud enough to hurt Lex's ears, but not loud enough for the crowd below to hear or understand. "DON'T YOU EVER, _EVER_ SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

"Clark," Lex breathed, amazed.

"I was so damn SCARED, Lex," Clark hissed, burying his nose in the skin of Lex's neck. "I came as soon as I could, and oh GOD! I thought I was too late, because you weren't there. I couldn't see you anywhere! Oh God, Lex!"

Lex manuvered his arms out of Clark's crushing embrace and circled Clark's neck with them, stroking the silky black hair and petting the bent neck.

"God, Clark, it hurt so bad to be without you. So I enlisted Chloe to help me with this scheme, and I thought if I did something so collossally stupid as publically threatening to kill myself, you'd come running to save me, and then I was standing there, and I thought that if I didn't do it, I'd regret it, and I'd never have the courage or the opportunity to do anything so thrillingly amazing. It was like it was enticing me to jump. And then I was falling and falling and you weren't there and I thought for sure that you had gotten over me, and I was so afraid that you would let me fall. And I couldn't figure out whether I wanted to fall or not."

"Lex," Clark moaned, "all you ever had to do to get me back was ask me."

"It's hard to think rationally when you're in emotional agony and you've enlisted the help of the resident Drama Queen," Lex admitted.

"I thought you didn't want me," Clark said, and it was a question, even though it wasn't.

"God, no!" Lex contradicted. "I just didn't want you to ignore me. I felt so alone, and you were supposed to be my boyfriend, and boyfriends aren't supposed to be alone when they go on dates, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt like all those other people in the world were more important than me. And I was jealous, and hurt, and I just needed a good, loud, shouting match. But you kept agreeing with me, and I couldn't yell at you."

"Oh Lex," Clakr sighed, hugging him tighter as they floated toward the top of the building. "Of course I care more about you than everyone else in the world. You can just take care of yourself better than they can. I thought...I thought I knew how to balance the two halves of my life, but I guess not."

"I'll help you if you want," Lex offered.

"Of course I want your help." Clark traced his fingers down Lex's cheek as he spoke. "It's just that I was always taught growing up that other people were more important than my own needs. That I had these abilities and need to help others as much as I can. That the world needs me more than I need the world. It was always duty before love, my course laid out irrevocably before me, and nothing I can do about it.

"But I don't believe that it's that simple anymore. If I neglect myself, I can't do my job as well. I begin to lose Clark Kent inside Superman, and the larger than life persona of my alter ego strangles what I love and what I need, and if I don't keep the two sides separate, then they'll cancel each other out and destroy me."


End file.
